The Women

%uFFFD%uFFFD Imagine the shock: Mary is having her nails done at Saks when her babbling manicurist bumbles into a monologue on infidelity involving Crystal, the girl at the store's perfume counter, and a respected Wall Street investment broker. Before the conversation is over, Mary realizes that the broker isn't just some name from the business pages of the Times. He's Steve, her husband of 13 years.

%uFFFD Meg Ryan gives Mary a blank face of dismay in keeping with the glib level she maintains throughout The Women. But why pick on her? The entire project suffers from misdirection and a respectable cast that almost always seems a beat or two behind the punch line. If it had been a TV show, a laugh track would alert viewers that something funny just happened.

%uFFFD The Women is the contemporary chick-flick remake of George Cukor's 1939 comedy classic, which he adapted in turn from the play by Clare Booth Luce, one of the most prominent women of the day as a member of Congress and wife of a publishing magnate. Both movie versions honor Luce's idea of keeping the men offstage. It's a women's story, even if the unseen men exert a gravitational pull on their lives.

%uFFFD Nearly 15 years in gestation, The Women has undergone many script rewrites and casting changes since writer-director Diane English ("Murphy Brown") first thought of remaking Cukor's film. That some of Luce's original banter, which came as sharp and fast as a cat's retractable claws, remains intact is an uncomfortable reminder that the new movie could have been a biting satire instead of a confused fluff ball. As the project made its way around Hollywood, the focus on competition between women over undeserving men grew blurry: The story was softened and bloated with too many tangents, too much pop psychology and too many product placements. The women wear Prada-and Gucci and anything else with a trophy label.

%uFFFD "Sex and the City" happened since English conceived her remake and the new Women tries to keep pace with Sarah Jessica Parker and company. The movie begins on the crowded Manhattan streets near Park Avenue, filled with the clacking sound of women's feet gorgeously shod. The Women's core females-Mary, her gossipy best friend Sylvie (Annette Bening), the perpetually pregnant Edie (Debra Messing) and the African-American lesbian Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith)-are all affluent, privileged and connected somehow to the fashion industry. At moments, the script calls out the downside of trying to conform to the airbrushed image of mannequins and expensive consumption; at other times, shopping just seems like such fun!

%uFFFD As in the original, there is class warfare as well as age conflict between the socialites and Crystal, the younger shopgirl who steals Mary's man. Playing the gold digger as a Latina spitfire, Eva Mendes adds an ethnic spin to the role. Sadly, Crystal all but disappears for much of the movie as Mary contemplates parenting without Steve (but with the aid of servants), Sylvie struggles to maintain her edge in the competitive world of fashion magazines (all those younger gals angling for her job) and opportunities for a comedy of contemporary manners are largely squandered. The supporting cast includes many familiar names, among them Candice Bergen as Mary's pragmatic mother, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman and the always annoying Bette Midler in her usual harridan mode. n

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David Luhrssen is the Managing Editor of the Shepherd Express. He is author of several books and has been published in Historically Speaking, History Today, the Journal of American History and other journals.

Comments (8)

I think this article is spot-on! Danny might be an...

I think this article is spot-on! Danny might be an inside-out nice guy and he does have some talent but that can only take him so far. He's been coasting on sympathy votes and has been completely mediocre (Karaoke) throughout the show. His latest performance is the worst that idol has have had for years and frankly i'm really appalled that he's still on the show when Allison is clearly more talented than him

Annemore than 8 years ago

boy you don't know music even if it hit you right ...

boy you don't know music even if it hit you right on the face, danny gokey was the most skilled singer on that show, kris was good but boring and lambert is just gay,, someone tell him he's a guy please. Danny gokey sings amazingly and its not at all karoke

Anonymousmore than 8 years ago

I think you are absolutely right. So many of his s...

I think you are absolutely right. So many of his supporters are not supporting for the right cause. Danny is out of touch. He is not mainstream. He wore a vest for Rock Week, for God's sake. This does not mean that he will not have a contract and make records, he will, but his records will only reach a certain demographic of people.

LuckbeaLady2Nightmore than 8 years ago

Woah, don't ignite the Idol mob Evan!...

Woah, don't ignite the Idol mob Evan!

Kevinmore than 8 years ago

How is Gokey "out of touch with contemporary cultu...

How is Gokey "out of touch with contemporary culture?" Because he doesn't dress like My Chemical Romance? It seems like you're trying to create a controversy that simply does not exist.

Rogeemore than 8 years ago

Personally I'm quite bored with the "hipsters" of ...

Personally I'm quite bored with the "hipsters" of Milwaukee trying to regulate what is cool and not cool in this city. You're just upset that a guy like Danny, that isn't part of your stupid elite group, has made a bigger name for himself and this city than any of the local music you adore so much.

Joemore than 8 years ago

you've got to be kidding, right?

jeeze. but let's...

you've got to be kidding, right?

jeeze. but let's erect a bronze statue of THE FONZ, that'll help milwaukee's image.

90% of the human beings on the planet don't sit in front of a computer screen reading blogs about danny gokey. (and i should know...i write one.)so i think your worry is a little far-fetched. (besides...the "vitriol from bloggers" you link to is...a TWITTER ACCOUNT of a blogger whose blog is read by barely 20,000 people a day? -- "I am Vicki, I run a music blog, I am real and a bitch =)?)

and you talk as though the big idol homecoming parade was danny gokey's idea. in that case, i want a friggin parade too.

and sentiment like "he's more talented than she is..." sure, this is a contest, but to say that adam lambert is "far more talented" than gokey is kind of ridiculous. he has different talents, to be sure. he's also got much more experience on stage than a "chuch choir director." check out the youtube videos. talk to anyone who was in the national tour of "wicked" with him. he should be where he is, he should be more willing to take risks.

and as far as a poster boy, well. for years, everywhere i go, it's "oh...milwaukee. fargo, right?" or "oh...milwaukee. laverne and shirley, right?" or "oh....milwaukee. beer, right?"

i, for one, would be thrilled to hear "oh...milwaukee. DANNY GOKEY, right?"

Tony Clementsmore than 8 years ago

That is absurd. Get real. He is talented and is ha...

That is absurd. Get real. He is talented and is having fun. In no way do I think he is a douche. What makes him a douche anyways? Aren't douches in bars picking up woman with terrible lines and over-inflated egos? I think his wife just passed away and I doubt he is doing any of that.

What's your deal anyways? Terrible blog.

Milesmore than 8 years ago

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